Transition
by StarscreamsBuddy
Summary: *Prime Universe* When Optimus lost his memory, he became Orion Pax. So what would happen if it was Megatron? After recovering another ancient relic, Megatron's attempt to take its power leaves him without memory and has now returned to D-16, the miner before his gladiator days. Now missing from his crew, what will become of him when he falls into the care of a young human?
1. Chapter 1

A rather calm Megatron strode onto the command deck behind his Communications Officer. "Has the final relic location been decoded, Soundwave?"  
The lean mech simply nodded once.  
"You perform your job as admirably as always." The leader smirked darkly, looking up on the screen to look upon the relic coordinates. He frowned as he looks to the silent decoder. "Yet as with the failure of the previous scouts for the relics, save your success," he looks to the coordinates, before assessing them. "I will be the one to retrieve this relic myself."  
Soundwave stared long, leaving a slight concern in his stance.  
Megatron turned to face his loyal follower. "Optimus cannot have the chance to steal this opportunity from our grasp once again." He growled. "No longer will I fail as I did in my… 'past' assignments I had in the mines long past. As you can assume, I am not the fool I was then."  
The CO simply nodded again.  
Megatron huffed with a slight glare. "Keep the ship in line, and await my command." Without another word, the tyrant left the room and eventually the ship via ground bridge.  
With this relic not yet decoded by Autobot hands, the retrieval and use of its power against the enemy was certain.

-X-

Jack sat quietly in his seat, the class silent in the midst of an exam. Tapping his pencil slightly on the edge of his desk, he looked about nervously.  
"Dude, would you quit the tapping, please?" came an annoyed, female voice.  
He flicked his head behind him in surprise, and blinked seeing a familiar yet unfamiliar face.  
"Sorry, nervous."  
"I can tell." Mumbled a teen with short gold and brown hair, rolling her hazel eyes. "Just keep it down, concentrating." With a small smirk to him, she gestured at her paper, seeing hundreds of well-made doodles of various creatures of many fantasies and fiction.  
Jack chuckled small. "Not bad."  
"You don't want to see the ones I make when I'm stuck alone."  
The teacher looked up over his newspaper. "Jack, Erin. Don't make me come over there."  
"Sorry, chief." Erin mumbled sarcastically, giving a half-mocking salute. The teacher simply rolled his eyes back to his reading.  
A paper wad hit Erin in the back of the head, and she whirled her gaze back in a glare. Both her and Jack frowned at the sight of Vince's uncanny smirk.  
"How's Cherry moped and Dump-off doing today?" Vince grinned, hands folding behind his head as he leaned down in his seat.  
"Can it, Vinny." The girl sneered, turning forward again.  
"Whoa, look who's got a smart mouth. Say Darby, why don't you knock her off her feet on your little moped and door dump her outside town? Maybe she can see her parents there."  
"I said can it, Vince." She growled over her shoulder.  
"Or what? Gonna cry like you do everyday behind the school?"  
"I will hit you, Vince. Shut up."  
Jack looked to her sternly. "Just ignore him, he's not worth it."  
"Nah, Darby, let her figure it out. To figure out that she's never gonna come out from below me. Hell, that's probably why her parents left her anyway. Pathetic waste of—"  
She had gotten up too fast for him, her fist meeting his jaw. As he tumbled out of his seat, the whole class turned to stare in shock. Erin stood over him with a dark glare, her still-closed fist stinging from the hit she gave.  
Jack took her quickly by the arm. "Erin, y—"  
"Erin Cooliage." The teacher came beside her, pulling her away. "You come with me, now."  
As Vince pulled himself up, Erin looked hurt and apologetically at Jack before she was lead out the door.

-X-

After convincing Arcee to stay another hour longer after school, Jack sat atop the side of the school steps in silence.

"Why did you wait?" Erin mumbled as she came out the door with one backpack strap on her shoulder.  
Jack hopped down to come up to her. "Friend thing, I guess."  
Erin cocked a brow. "Wow, friends in under two minutes? You go fast, don't you?"  
Jack blinked, shocked and embarrassed. "Well, no no, I just I…"  
The teen laughed a bit. "Just playing with ya." She smirked as they walk down the steps. "Guess we're friends on one agreement." Jack gave a questioning look. "We both have some level of hatred at Vince."  
"Who doesn't?"  
"True said." She shrugged. "Look, sorry I didn't take your advice back there to just ignore him. Things like that just…get to me."  
"To be honest, who really cares what people like him say about you?" Jack sighed once as she paused, as he saw Acree move impatiently against the curb. "Hey, I better get going. See you next week I guess."  
After being silent in thought, she nodded. "Yea, cool, sure." She managed a smile. "Thanks again, Jack. Staying around for me means a lot…"  
"No problem…see you around." With one small wave, he gets onto his bike, and revs away.  
Erin sighed once she watched him swerve around the corner. Walking down the street with hands in her pockets, the teen kept her head low all the way to home.  
Nearly halfway home, she winced as some boys drove by to throw a few balls of trash at her, while she jumped back as another hit a puddle that splashed her in filthy water.  
"FUCK OFF!" She screamed out at the passing truck as its driver and passenger laughed at her drenched state. The truck stopped, then reversed back to come beside her as she glared in hate.  
"We aren't fond of the idea of a lonely, expendable piece of crap you are. But here's an idea, E'." the bully replied with a cool tone. She stepped back as he flicked a quarter at her as it bounced off her arm. "There's a quarter. Go pay a conductor on the train rail to chase you out of town. Maybe the rush of steel will clean you up." With a laugh, they rev off again, splashing yet another puddle in her face.  
Erin just screamed out, throwing her soaked backpack at them in a pathetic attempt to him them, as it only flopped in the middle of the street.  
In the silence of the abandoned small town street, Erin just sobbed as she stood there. Why was it everyday she had to endure the constant bullying? Would it ever end for her? Everyday she was treated like dirt, ever since she was little. It wasn't her fault her parents abandoned her on a doorstep like she was something worthless. She knew she wasn't worthless, but the pain she had to face every day because of it was hard to deal with. Yet no matter how much one person would try to comfort her, they would not know her pain.  
Wiping her tears, she got her backpack form the street and started walking again. If she got home, at least she could cry in peace.

-X-

The ground bridge closing shut behind him, Megatron looked about. It was a canyon just outside a small human city, the rock formations standing high above him. The scene was oddly similar to where he had risen his army of undead against Optimus and his lap dog medic, but he had no time for pleasant musings. The relic was somewhere nearby.  
He strode calmly down the canyon stretch, not bothering to notice his surroundings any longer. He simply walked until he came to the expended dead end of a rock face.  
Megatron sneered as he glanced over the many various rock formations around him. Overlooking his coordinates once more, he gave a rare but dark smirk at the corner of his lips as he lay his gaze on one small stone.  
His claw grasped easily over the rock, and wretched it out effortlessly until it revealed a small port in the cliff wall. Tossing the stone aside, he raised his cannon with a hum. Dust and debris blasted around him with a single shot, which exposed a tank of metal and energon veins. With a smirk, he pulled open the small container and reached inside.  
"Ah…the many surprises this planet holds." Megatron murmured as he brought out the relic. It was a small gold and purple orb device. The commander grinned as he admired it, knowing exactly what its purpose was.  
"A self-command spark enricher." Megatron purred. "With it I can arise and create any protoform warrior or lifeform I desire." He huffed. "Imagine what it can do for my troops with minor improvement."  
Exiting the canyon, Megatron glared over the small town beyond, before eyeing the relic in hand. "Hm…perhaps a cleansing is in order, as a test run."  
He held the orb out before him, aimed out at the town. "Awaken for your new master." Megatron rumbled, as the orb swirled and hummed to life. "Awaken and obey my will."  
He smiled small and fiendishly as the relic hummed louder, feeling its power coursing up his arm. He could only imagine what chaos it would bring upon a human hive when it was reversed of its energy.  
The orb whirled wildly, then suddenly faded to silence again.  
Megatron blinked with a growl. "WHAT? What are you doing? I said AWAKEN!" He shook it a few times, but nothing. He growled sharply, itching to crush it but knowing better than to destroy an ancient relic as this one.  
"You WILL obey me! Awaken! I am Megatron, your new lord and ma-"  
Without warning, the build-up of power surging within the orb previously burst online, but only this time it chose to release it upon its holder. As it was not thought over by Megatron, only the command of a Prime could use this relic at will.  
When it was not a Prime, there were dire consequences.  
Megatron howled out a roar of agony as a horrific rush of ancient power overloaded his systems via the orb relic. After a moment of seizing on the spot, Megatron dropped the orb before collapsing onto his back in an offline state.  
The great Decepticon leader laid there in a prone manner, optics dark and still. The effects of the orb on him, even to a well trained medic, were unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

"He should have retrieved the relic by now, right?" Knockout mumbled as an obviously silent Soundwave. "Then where is he?"  
Soundwave pointed to the screen behind him, showing the coordinates.  
"Well obviously." The medic rolled his optics, hand on a hip. "What I mean is if he went alone without any issue of Autobot run in, then why hasn't he returned sooner?" Shrugging, Knockout went to the tracking board. "Let's at least know he's not in any difficulty."  
Soundwave put a thin hand on the keyboard to stop the red mech, his black gaze stern and cold.  
The medic stared, then frowned with a shrug. "If you insist. He can handle himself anyway…" Calmly, knockout left the room.  
Even for a rather composed technician, Soundwave sensed something amiss in their leader's departing and delaying arrival. Finding the relic for Megatron would have been simply and quick, but why was it taking so long now with no word from Megatron otherwise?  
His loyalty withstanding, the CO brushed it aside, knowing Megatron would return and leave whenever he wanted. Nothing horrible could happen to their leader this time, not after the space bridge explosion months past.  
Turning away, Soundwave went back to decoding more relic coordinates, putting his concern for their leader's situation aside. However long it took, their master would return.

-X-

There was a low groan from the still body of Megatron, as he slowly sat up whilst holding his head.  
He blinked and flickered his optics in confusion, then as he focused around him, he did something he would never have done: panic.  
Yelping, Megatron staggered unsteadily to his feet, nearly falling over again as he stared wildly and fearfully at the unknown surroundings. His optics were a slight tint of blue around the center as he stared with heaving breaths through his vents.  
"Wh…where..am I? Why am I…on the surface?" He stuttered to himself with a small whine. He jumped again seeing his claws, and the large cannon atop his right forearm. "W-when did I have a weapon? I-I-I can't have weapons! Get off, get off!" He started tugging at his cannon as a pathetic attempt to pull it off, but it remained fixed into his arm. With one more yank, he yelped as she stumbled back again and into a rock wall behind him, causing small rock and debris to fall on him.  
Shaking, he stared down at himself in fear and shock. He didn't look like this before. How long was before anyway, and where was he now? All he knew was that is was not Cybertron, which for now was a cause for worry. He stared down at his claws with a timid stare and panting in his vents, not knowing what to do as he didn't even recognize himself.  
He flinched as a few drops of rain hit his shoulder, not used to weather on his home planet. He whimpered as more rain fell on him, and he staggered up again in uncertainty of the harmless raindrops on his form.  
He looked all about, not knowing where he could go to get away from this falling substance. He paused seeing a larger building outside a small town like area, but he was unaware of the inhabitants, or what a town even was. Stumbling over his bulky treads, Megatron whimpered as he made his way down the rock slope and to the structure. The front was open tall enough for him to duck under, and quickly slipped inside and dropped down with a heavy thud onto the concrete floor.  
Scooting on his side, the surprisingly frightened Megatron shifted quickly back until he was tucked into the dark corner of the building, hugging his knees as he listened to the raindrops on the high metal roof above. High stacked metal and wood crates surrounded him and the back of the room. He barely noticed the small desk and work area near the side of the room, complete with a small couch and bed. What was this place?  
Megatron shivered again as he stared into the dark all around. He was used to the dark, as it had its comforts. But when it was on another world, it did not help him at all for comfort. How did he get here, why couldn't he remember? Everything was too vivid now, as he was too frightened to think straight.  
He yelped at a small hiss near his giant pede, and stared with wide optics at a small creature before him, covered in fur and with bright green eyes. When it hissed again, he shuffled back more until his armor groaned against the wall behind him. Unaware of what this creature was, he wanted nothing to do with it or to anger it. Eventually, as a few moments of tension, the small thing ran off to the other end of the room to hide.  
He ducked his head down at the sound of thunder outside, not used to the sound as he was used to other loud and unforgiving noises. He just stood shivering in the corner, the great, powerful, and fearsome tyrant, now reduced to what he truly was in the beginning. For now, he had to simply wait out this alien storm.

-X-

With her hood over her head to avoid the pounding rain, Erin dashed up to the door of her garage-style home, which was simply a large hanger building outside of town. Fumbling the keys, she sighed happily as the door opened for her. Shutting the door behind her, she tossed the backpack on the concrete floor by the couch, making her way to the long workbench against the wall.  
Erin paused seeing the hanger door open. "Hmm. Must have left it open before I left." With a press of a switch on the wall, the massive door closed down to the floor.  
As she took off her dampened jacket, Erin frowned hearing her cat yowling low under her seat. "Hey Louis, what is it?" The cat just yowled again in his throat, and she stared seeing his glaring out into the far back of the building. She sighed as she picked him up to snuggle a moment. "There's nothing there, bud. You're ok." She set the striped cat down on the table near her as she opened up her folder. Inside she flipped through many drawings she had made, mostly of landscapes and mythical beings, but the occasional person. Once going to an incomplete landscape piece, she took out her ready pencil and continued her work  
Louis growled again, flicking his tail. Erin sighed and petted the cat's head. "You're fine, big guy. Nothing's there." She sighed heavy and annoyed when the cat growled again. "Louis there is NOTHING—" The teen stopped short hearing something move somewhere in the dark of the hanger. She stared out suspiciously, as it almost sounding like grinding metal on the floor.  
"Another rat, damn…" Picking up a flashlight on the table, with a mallet in the other hand, she carefully approached the sound. She flicked her gaze as she heard it again, and moved more cautiously. Suddenly, Erin stopped dead at a suppressed, metallic whine in the dim. Slowly moving her flashlight, she shone it on a section of unknown metal in the corner of the room. It strangely looked all too much like a giant two-pointed foot. Catching her breath, she looked up further with the light, and stops dead with wide, terrified eyes as she found a pair of giant red optics staring down at her from high above the floor.  
To her surprise, as she was never easy to scare at her age, Erin did the only thing an unsuspected witness of a giant killer robot would do.  
She screamed, dropping her tools as she fell onto her back.  
Megatron just screamed back, never seeing such a creature like a human before and just from the shock of being caught.  
Erin slid back quickly in a terrified panic, trying not to cry in fear as she screamed once more. Getting back to her feet, she ran for the door, but stopped hearing Megatron scream again and stand up quickly in panic to only strike a steel beam above with his helm, sending him down on the floor again on his side. She grabbed a metal bat by her couch as the giant mech moaned, holding his sore helm.  
Panting, Erin held up her bat in a ready position to swing at him if need be. However with how big Megatron was, all he had to do was crush her with a finger. She shook as she stared wide-eyed at the monstrous mech before her.  
Megatron groaned again with pain and calming shock, as he just blinked his crimson optics to her without moving from his crippled position on the floor. All that could be seen in those optics were fear and uncertainty, nothing the true Megatron would dare show to a human child.  
He flinched at the sight of her tightening the grip on the bat, not caring for how tiny it was or that it wouldn't even scratch his form, but that he feared the act of being beaten. "…Please." Megatron murmured with a slightly nervous growl in tone. "Please, I-I didn't mean to come here. I-I was just…:" He shut his optics with a tense expression, and whine in his deep, dark voice. "Please don't hurt me. I didn't mean to come here, it was an accident, I swear to Primus it was. Please don't hurt me, I beg…" The terrifying form of Megatron shivered again.  
Erin stared, a little shocked now. This thing was actually SCARED of her? What harm could she even do to him? She paused now with a confused frown, lowering her bat now. As she thought about it, if this robot wanted to hurt her, it had plenty of time to do that when she wasn't looking.  
The girl blinked. "…No, no I won't hurt you."  
Megatron blinked back to her uncertainly, stilling holding his helm.  
"Really, I won't. Here, I'm gonna put this down…" Cautiously, Erin set the bat down the floor before kicking it away. She showed her empty hands. "See, nothing." She paused as Megatron rumbled in his chest at where the bat went, before flicking his gaze back at her as if paranoid. She swallowed hard before coming up to him slowly, but stopped as he quickly sat up and went against the wall again. Erin stopped, keeping her distance from the giant mech. "…What, are you?"  
Megatron blinked down at her, and fiddled his large claws. When he spoke, he said it in tone as if he was timid of a beating. "I…" with a long, contemplating pause, he finally spoke. "…I, am a miner of the Kaon mining pits, of Cybertron…" He dropped his red gaze again as he tucked up his sharp knees.  
Erin blinked, confused still. "Er, a miner?" The timid tyrant nodded small. She frowned now, easing back so she sat atop a crate. "…Well, um…do you, have a name?"  
He stared at her, uncertain and confused.  
"You know, a name. What do others call you by?" she asked gently.  
The fearsome mech dropped his gaze again, clenching his shark-like teeth as if on edge. "…I…only my master can hear my designation…" He hugged his large claws around his knees, looking away.  
"Maybe you could tell me." Erin pressed carefully. "I won't tell him, I promise."  
Megatron shook his head. "No no, he would know somehow. They always know somehow. If they know I did something I shouldn't…they would beat me again. They always beat me when I do something wrong."  
"But I won't…" she offered softly. The mech shifted uneasily. "It's ok, I won't tell anybody else, I swear…they won't hurt you for that."  
"W…why would you want to know?" he demanded fearfully.  
"Because, well…you seem lost, alone, afraid." Erin murmured with a small shrug. "I want to understand so I can figure out how to help you."  
The mech stared back to her, calming down somewhat. He didn't really want to tell her, but it seemed she maybe the only one on this alien world who would ever help him. If he was abused afterward or not on his return, he needed help.  
He flickered his optics a bit, and looked off to the side as he replied. "…D-16. That's my 'name'…D-16."  
Erin nodded, perplexed by such a name but goes along with it. "Cool…" she pointed to herself. "And, I'm Erin."  
Megatron blinked at her, never hearing such a name like that. "…And, you have an odd name, 'Erin'." He cocked his head a little. "Odd name, for an odd creature."  
"I'm not odd, just kinda different." Erin smirked, getting a little more comfortable now with the giant mech. She paused in thought now. "…Why did you come in here, anyway, D?"  
Megatron shifted again, looking up at the ceiling at the sound of more rain pounding on the steel above.  
"Oh." She mused. "The rain."  
"'Rain'? Is that what it is?" he stared down at the few drops on his form. "It won't do harm, will it?"  
Erin chuckled. "Nah, its just water. It won't hurt anything." She blinked at his confused expression. "…Do you know what water is?" The memory-drained tyrant shook his head, and she smirked. "It's what most of this planet is made of. It helps make life on this world, and from the looks of you, technology made life on yours."  
Megatron shrugged a little. "I guess so…" he dropped his shoulder spikes slightly. "You…won't send me out there again right now, will you?" He looked down at her confused look. "It's, well, er…drier in here, and…I don't want 'rain' on me."  
Erin cocked her head. "You asking to stay here from the storm, huh?" Megatron blinked with wide, shocked optics, and she laughed. "Well if a big guy like you is so bothered by it then its fine. Don't break anything and you'll be fine with me."  
The mech shifted up straighter. "Really?" As she nodded with a shrug, he managed a grateful smile, which was somewhat strange to see with his gruesome fangs. But quickly he calmed down as she walked back over to the couch and bed area. "…Umm…?"  
"You can stay where you are back there, it has more room for you anyway so it seems." Erin replied back as she crawled into her bed. "Me, on the other hand, I've had enough excitement for one day. Just gonna sleep now."  
Megatron cocked his helm, confused. "'Sleep'?"  
Erin sighed as she curled up in her sheets. "Like, you know, shut down, rest, recharging?"  
"Oh." He mumbled. "You…recharge often?"  
"Every night. Why, how often do you?"  
Megatron dropped his gaze again, staring at one of his claws. "…Not much. Before I could really rest, my master would put me to constant work in the tunnels again. Most orns I could barely keep standing…and the others always attacked me when my master wasn't around." He flickered his optics, hurt thinking about it all.  
Erin sighed, turning to look at him. "D…trust me, you're ok here. If you want you can sleep as long as you want in here, alright? Just don't wake me up unless you really need to." She turned over again to go back to sleep.  
"…Really?"  
"Really real…" she mumbled under her covers. "Now goodnight, D…"  
Megatron stared to her in her tiny bed, and he shifted onto his back on the floor with a heavy sigh though his vents, trying to think things over with all he's see and heard. As he stared up that the steel braced ceiling above, Megatron tried all he could to remember how he got on this planet, or even got out of the dark tunnels of the mines in Kaon. But no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't recall, not even of what was yesterday. What was wrong with him?  
With a glance to Erin asleep in her bed, the Decepticon sighed once more, before offlining his optics to get a well-needed recharge.


End file.
